Our wonderful Mayor Buddy Dyer recently proposed a property tax rate increase for Orlando homeowners to cover a part of the $30 million budget shortfall that the city is currently facing. With the increase, he’s basically eliminating all the savings to Orlando homeowners from passage of Amendment 1 earlier this year. He claims this increase will cover about half of the budget short fall so the city can add more police officers, firefighters, and emergency rescue people.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like this increase one bit. I thought our votes tell our leaders what we want and the passage of Amendment 1 should have surely told our mayor that we all think our property taxes are too high. It’s like he’s ignoring us.

What about all the tax breaks Mayor Dyer gave to convicted con man Lou Pearlman for the renovation of Church Street Station and the tax breaks given to the now bankrupt Cameron Kuhn and numerous other downtown revitalization projects that are a constant reminder of the condo bust in downtown Orlando? How about giving us a break? He knows we want to keep our Amendment 1 savings, but it seems like it doesn’t matter.

This blog never really gets political, but I have to vent here. This proposal sucks. Commissioner Phil Diamond reportedly voted against the hike but was met with hostility from fellow council members. At least someone is sticking up for us.

Final public hearings will be held on September 8th and 15th before the tax hike becomes final. I sure hope they change their mind about this.